However you feel about competitive eating, and whether or not it should be considered a sport, probably dictates exactly how you feel about Joey Chestnut's dominance over his competitive eating rivals. If you feel competitive eating is some carnival sideshow, then you probably scoff at, if not recall in disgust over, Chestnut's 16 Nathan's hot dog eating titles.
If you feel that competitive eating is indeed a sport, though, then his 16 titles represent hallowed ground in the sports world, and his name belongs alongside Bill Russell, Tom Brady, and Michael Jordan. I'm joking, sort of. Me, personally, I love competitive eating. I've judged two Nathan's contests and participated in the 2007 Kolache Factory kolache eating contest, against one Joey Chestnut! He won that night, eating 56 kolaches. I ate seven.
Okay, back to hot dogs. In case you missed it, for the first time in early two decades, Chestnut was not allowed to participate in the Nathan's contest on Coney Island on July 4th. The fly in the ointment was an endorsem*nt deal Chestnut had signed with vegan hot dog maker, Impossible hot dogs. Chestnut's absence at least made it an actual competition, with Patrick Bertoletti outlasting Geoffrey Esper, 58 dogs to 53 dogs.
The world, though, wants to see Chestnut eat, so in swooped Netflix, which is slowly becoming a home for made-for-TV events like Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, Tom Brady's celebrity roast, and yes, a damn hot dog eating contest! Netflix spiced it up by getting Chestnut's main rival from 15 years ago, Takeru Kobayashi, to sign on the dotted line for "Chestnut vs Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef" in Vegas on Labor Day afternoon.
On this particular day, not only did Chestnut defeat his hated rival, but he destroyed his own world record by seven hot dogs, consuming 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Here was the home stretch:
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 2, 202483 HOT DOGS IN 10 MINUTES FOR JOEY CHESTNUT
THE GOAT!
pic.twitter.com/crKR5AtuiR
Simply put, Joey Chestnut is a legend. If you missed the broadcast, here are a few thoughts:
I had no idea that the "unfinished beef" was so beefy between these two!
The entire broadcast was a little over an hour long, and they actually had some really well done video packages on each of the competitors, highlighting the nuances of their rivalry, which goes all the way back to 2005, when Chestnut burst onto the scene, finishing third in the Nathan's contest as a rookie. This was at a point in time when Kobayashi was the rage of competitive eating. By 2007, Chestnut had closed the gap on Kobayashi, and the source of the vitriol between the two was born, when Kobayashi claimed in the days leading up to July 4th, that he had a jaw issue that would impact his ability to eat hot dogs in the contest. Chestnut ended up winning the first of his 16 titles, and to this day, claims Kobayashi was lying about the jaw injury so that he would have an excuse when Chestnut beat him. If we learned one thing on Monday, it's that Chestnut can hold a grudge, because he made zero effort to even look at Kobayashi after the contest, let alone shake his hand.
The rules did not favor Chestnut, but he still pulled through
If you've ever watched the Nathan's contest, then you know that there is a method to eating several dozen hot dogs. Usually, if involves separating the dogs from the buns and eating them separately. Also, the buns are usually dipped in cups of water by the eaters. Neither of these methods were allowed in this contest, something that Chestnut admitted after the contest was worrisome to him. It ended up being irrelevant. Chestnut ate the bun-and-dog simultaneously 83 times, and managed to wet them by drinking water in between dogs. That's the sign fo a true champion — adaptability!
Netflix didn't take any shortcuts on the production
The talent they used on the broadcast was not inexpensive (I'm guessing). Chris Rose and Cari Champion, actual sports announcing personalities, were used on play by play, along with former competitive eater, Tim Janus (best known as "Eater X"). The host and hostess for the various in-venue segments were (highly unfunny) comedian Rob Riggle and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Garcia. They had an undercard where eater Matt Stonie, the sole interrupter of Chestnut's reign of 16 titles, crushed three Olympians combined in a wing eating contest, and someone named Leah Shutkever set the world record for watermelon eaten in three minutes. HUGE! The production team did a nice job of cutting over to the eaters' families, with Kobayashi's crying wife and Chestnut's dad, Merlin Chestnut (greatest name ever), getting a fair amount of attention. My only complain was the overuse of Riggle, whose obnoxious need to make literally everything into a joke, and not good jokes at that, was really distracting and annoying. I just don't get it.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
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